Sculpture Park

This year‘s Sculpture Park at Bechyne Estate, which will open on 5 June and run until the end of September, will feature internationally renowned artists in the fields of contemporary sculpture and installation. Most of them are exhibiting in the Czech Republic for the first time, though their work is represent- ed by the world‘s most important galleries and leading exhibition institutions.

The Stava family is synonymous with tradition and collecting in the field of pre-modern and especially avant-garde art. Nicole Stava co-manages the Bechyne Estate along with her sister, Silvia, and also has years of experience in the international art market. Recently, she has been developing exhibition projects that focus on introducing leading international figures in contemporary art to the Czech republic.

This year‘s season at Bechyne Castle is dedicated to prominent positions in the field of contemporary sculpture and other object-oriented objects. In collaboration with Berlin’s leading König Galerie, along with art historian and gallerist Lucie Drdova, a group of artworks by established artists has been selected from König’s collection. The concept for the current exhibition at the castle park is centred on the important work of three of König’s most important sculptors: Elmgreen & Dragset, who are currently showing an ambitious exhibition at the Fondazione Prada in Milan, Mexican artist Bosco Sodi, whose group exhibition of paintings and sculptures is part of the Venice Biennale, and the Austrian conceptualist Erwin Wurm.

PARK OPENING HOURS:

June and September, Thursday to Sunday 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
July and August, Tuesday to Sunday 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Entry fees: 

One entry: 50 CZK
Monthly fee: 200 CZK
Children younger than 15 years of age: free

Exhibiting artists

ELMGREEN & DRAGSET

The artist duo Michael Elmgreen (b. 1961 in Copenhagen, Denmark) and Ingar Dragset (b. 1969 in Trondheim, Norway) have been collaborating since 1995. Their work engages with questions of identity, through objects, installations, and performance. These are then placed in new contexts as a means to investigate underlying social, cultural, and political structures. Elmgreen & Dragset are represented by several private galleries worldwide. They are currently presenting a formidable show at Fondazione Prada, Milan that follows the transformation of the human body and the ways in which it is perceived.  Elmgreen & Dragset have exhibited at numerous institutions including EMMA - Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Espoo (2020); The Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas (2019-2020); Whitechapel Gallery, London (2018-2019); Tel Aviv Museum of Art (2016); UCCA, Beijing (2016); PLATEAU, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul (2015); Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo (2014); Victoria and Albert Museum, London (2013-2014); Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam (2011); ZKM Museum of Modern Art, Karlsruhe (2010); Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León (2009); Serpentine Gallery, London (2006); Tate Modern, London (2004); and Kunsthalle Zürich (2001). The pair were selected as finalists for the prestigious Hugo Boss Prize, Guggenheim Museum, New York (2000), and won the National Gallery Prize, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2002).

BOSCO SODI

Mexican artist Bosco Sodi (b. 1970 in Mexico City) is world renowned for his vibrant canvases, with a rich colour palette and exceptional haptic quality. He works with pure, natural materials that emerge on the surface of his works through his unique gestures. Despite working with organic matter, So- di‘s approach is largely conceptual and linked to themes of human memory and the richness of symbols. Currently, Sodi is presenting a large-scale exhibition at Palazzo Vedrami Grimani as part of the current Venice Biennale. Sodi has exhibited widely at international institutions, such as the Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas (2021); The Philips Collection, Washington, D.C. (2021); and the Royal Society of Sculptors, London, (2019). He is represented by Kasmin and Axel Vervoordt galleries.

CLAUDIA COMTE

Claudia Comte (b. 1983 in Grancy, Switzerland) creates large-scale multimedia installations that have their origins in the observation of nature and its continuous modes of transformation. The Swiss artist uses new technologies to transform abstracted and biomorphic shapes into optical sequences and endless graphic patterns. These contain deeper reflections on climate change, ecology, and global pollution. Comte was the subject of a major solo exhibition at the Castello di Rivoli in Turin (2019-2021); and at the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid (2021). In addition to König Galerie, Comte is also represented by Gladstone Gallery.

DAVID ZINK YI

Originally from Peru, the David Zink Yi (b. 1973 in Lima) moved to Berlin at an early age, where he continues to live and work. His works are a critical reference of actions that thematize human identity and its transformations, including its forms of expression. Most of these take form as performance, such as cooking, recitation, dance, and texts. The artist‘s multidisciplinary practice also includes film, photography, and sculpture. This year his work is on display at London‘s Hayward Gallery. Previously, he has participated in the Liverpool Biennial (2021) and has exhibited at Kunstmuseum Bonn (2021); Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2021); Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt/ Main (2019); and Belvedere Vienna (2018). Zink Yi is also represented by Hauser & Wirth.

JEPPE HEIN

Jeppe Hein (b. 1974 in Copenhagen) is known for his experimental and interactive work, combining sculptural, architectural, and technological elements, which can be characterised by their imaginative simplicity and humour. He draws on the tradition of minimalism and conceptual art. Hein is the subject of a major solo exhibition at Moderna Museet, Stockholm (2022). His work has been presented, among others, at the Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Germany (2015); and the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (2005). Installations in public space have been realized for the Venice Biennale (2019); Brooklyn Bridge Park, New York (2015); and the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (2013).

ERWIN WURM

Erwin Wurm (b. 1954 in Bruck an der Mur) is one of Austria‘s leading artists. His sculptures and objects adapt the morphology of seemingly banal everyday objects, allowing him to explore the relation- ships between viewers through questions of space. Wurm has twice participated in the Venice Biennale. First, with an installation in Palazzo Cavalli-Franchetti (2011), followed by his selection to represent the Austrian Pavilion (2017). More recently, he has had exhibitions at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum (2020); Musée Cantini, Marseille (2019); K11 MUSEA, Hong Kong (2019); Vancouver Art Gallery (2019); Albertina Museum, Vienna (2018); Belvedere 21, Vienna (2017); Leopold Museum, Vienna (2017); and Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, São Paulo (2017). He is also represented by Thaddaeus Ropac Gallery.

ALICJA KWADE

Alicja Kwade (b. 1979 in Kattowitz) is a Polish artist based in Berlin for decades now. Her work deals with questions of the structures of our perceived reality and society, as well as the perception of time in immediate, everyday life. Kwade‘s practice uses employs a variety of media from constructed objects to video and photography. She is currently exhibiting at the i8 Grandi gallery in Marshallhouse, Reykjavík, and has participated in the Helsinki Biennial (2021); NGV Triennial (2020); Setouchi Triennial (2019); Venice Biennale (2017); and Kochi-Muziris Biennial (2016). She has also exhibited at the Hayward Gallery in London, the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo. In 2019, she created a monumental site-specific installation for the rooftop garden of Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Organasing institutions and their representation

Together with her sister Silvia, Nicole Stava runs the family company Bechyne Estate, and has long been involved in the international art market, among other things. For a number of years, she was a senior business development consultant at Christie‘s auction house in Prague, Vienna, and London. Since 2009, she is the proprietor of Nicole Stava Art Acquisitions and Sales, which provides comprehensive services in the international art trade. 

König Galerie was founded by Johann König in 2002 in Berlin. Its programme currently features forty internationally established artist, many of a younger generation. Since 2015, it has been housed in the former St. Agnes Church in Berlin‘s Kreuzberg district, whose brutalist architecture dates back to the 1960s. Subsequently, branches were opened in London, Seoul, and Vienna.

Lucie Drdová is an art historian, gallerist, and author. She is currently the curator of the Rony Plesl‘s exhibition “Trees Grow from the Sky”, which is part of the official programme of Collateral Events at the current Venice Biennale. In 2012 she founded the private gallery Lucie Drdova Gallery in Prague, with an active presence in Brussels, representing ten contemporary Czech artist. She is co-founder of the Alliance of Contemporary Art Galleries and participates in the SUMO international gallery cooperation project.

Please download our press release here. 

Courtesy of the artists and KÖNIG GALERIE, Berlin, London, Seoul. 

ARCHIVE OF ALL PREVIOUS SCULPTURE PARKS: 

2021: DAVID ČERNÝ. 
"This year, we will enrich your summer walk through the castle park with sculptures by perhaps the most famous Czech sculptor, David Černý. Among his installations in public space are "Pink Tank" from 1991, "Baby" on the Žižkov Tower, the spinning head of "Franz Kafka" on Národní třída in Prague or "Entropa", which caused a great wave of controversy in 2009 during the Czech presidency of the European Council in Brussels, where this statue was exhibited. David Černý arouses emotions in the viewer, whether positive or negative, but in any case, he fulfills one of the purposes of art, which is to encourage us to think about ourselves, our society and our values. I hope that some of his sculptures will make you think." (nicole stava)